Soulbound- Survival Tendency
by MaxRenRez
Summary: This story is part of a series that I'm working on with several different friends, which spans across several different series. The collective story is known as Soulbound- Heroes of Another World. For the most part, we have everything decided, but I'm still interested in seeing your input! Be sure to leave a review and check the others out when released!
1. Entry 1

_Downloading character…. completed._

_Assets loading… completed._

_Memories loading…._ _completed._

_Player data recorded. _

_Data saved to archives._

_Now initiating awakening._

Entry 1- The Strong Survive.

Cold.

That's the first sensation he could determine amongst the rest. It was the sensation of frigid air against bare skin. The next was his aching head, which throbbed in time with his heartbeat. The constant pulse of pain that echoed through his skull felt like a hammer pounding against it. The gritty feeling of something coarse, rough, and irritating was the next. Finally, the very distinct feeling of something wet.

With a deep groan tearing itself from his throat, the boy sat up against the sand he had been laying on. The sun was abnormally bright today. It was almost blinding. It took several minutes for his eyes to actually adjust to the light, but it only took a second for his jaw to drop to his ankles. Where he stood wasn't anywhere he recognized, and to top it off he had no idea how he got here. He appeared to be on an island; that much was obvious. Considering where he lived previously had no type of palm trees or giant rocks littering the landscape, it was clear that he wasn't in Kansas anymore, figuratively speaking. There was a strange metallic object in his wrist, which had a dull pulse to it in time with his heartbeat. No amount of scratching it managed to loosen it, which showed that it had somehow been grafted directly to his skin like some kind of body modification.

"Where…?" His throat was parched something fierce, so he knew his first order of business. That was getting water. Given that there was not only an ocean behind him but also a river to his left that flowed into a small area that was shaped like a narrow horseshoe, he figured that wouldn't be a problem. As he gathered water in his palms and sipped it, he began going over his current memories. _Let's see… My name is Gideon Nikos. That much I remember. I'm 17… I think. I have a mother named Christa, no father, a sister named-_ The sudden realization hit him like a slap to the face. Risa! Where was Risa?! They'd been walking together in his last memory, but he didn't see her anywhere near here.

"RISA! Where are you?!" He shouted once he could. His voice echoed off the rocks and the natural cliff wall of the alcove he was in. The landscape was the only thing to answer, responding with quietly crashing waves and occasional bird sounds. "RISAAAAA!" He shouted again, once more receiving a reply from everything except the one person he was looking for.

"Damn it…! Am I all alone in this place? I hope not…" While his thoughts began circulating at a rapid rate, they were soon silenced by the cooing sound of a bird that was waddling by. "...Huh?" The bird was relatively large, about half his size. A small head with a somewhat bulbous beak sat on it's mid-sized neck, and the size of its body was about the same as a basketball. "What the hell is this thing…?" It stopped at his feet, looking up at him with a dull expression. Either it was brave enough to walk near creatures like himself that appeared out of nowhere, or it was stupid enough to disregard any possible threats. He began wracking his brain to try to figure out what exactly this creature was, but his knowledge of animals wasn't nearly as vast as Risa's. It was all the more reason to find her.

"First things first, though… I need some clothes." He looked around at the different plants and whatnot. "Gonna need tools as well. For now, I'll get the hardest thing first. Wood." His attention was directed towards the palm trees that he'd seen earlier. Seeing as he had no other option, he reared back his fist and gave a loud yell to amp himself up. As his knuckles made contact, he cried out in pain. He'd hit it hard enough to break off a few chunks of wood as well as a healthy amount of thatch, but he'd also nearly broken his wrist, and also put several splinters in his knuckles to add insult to injury. "Definitely gonna need some tools… if I have to keep hitting these things with my bare hands, I'm screwed. But now, a different problem…" He looked at his newfound haul, realizing that he had nowhere to put anything he found or made.

He soon found a solution to this problem, however, in the form of that flashing implant in his wrist. In a bout of curiosity, he pressed one of the stony chunks into the implant, causing it to vanish in a flash of light. Gideon tapped the implant twice after packing away the remaining materials, which brought up a strange screen within his field of vision. He could see himself, as well as a rundown of his physical ability. In an area to the left, he could see the materials he had already picked up, already counted and sorted. _That's pretty convenient… It's almost like a video game._ He selected the stones he picked up, pulling them from within and watching them appear in his palm.

It took several tries to get it right, considering that testing the breaking point required for various tasks was harder than he imagined. In the end, he went through 18 stones before getting anything useful. Making the binding for it was easier. Using fibers that he stripped from flora around him to bind the thatch together, he wrapped the thatch around the stone head of the pick he planned to attach to the wood he harvested from the tree. Within moments, he had a crude yet functional pickaxe. He palmed the item, tossing it once and catching it by the handle.

He took his new pickaxe to some of the rocks beside the river, since wet rocks should be easier to manipulate. A few minutes spent striking the rock itself showed him three things. One, he needed to work on his stamina. Two, he needed more upper body strength. Three, apparently these rocks contained a slight amount of metal, which would make this entire process significantly faster if he could make it work. If he was able to make metal tools, it'd be not only faster, but more efficient.

His face formed a slight grin as his eyes traced the landscape in front of him. "I can do this. No matter what happens, I can survive in this barren world. I have everything I need. I'll master this place, and find Risa again. I swear upon my life."

He took a step forward into the new life he would lead, one where only the strong survive.

**Note from Author**

**Hey, guys! Max here for one more writing that isn't a complete and utter shitshow on this account! Surprising, I know. But when you get back into writing 7 years after you first start, you're bound to get better eventually. Anyways, as you can probably tell, this is a retelling of the events of Ark: Survival Evolved with the character I created for the game. A few of the things might not be accurate to the actual game, but I'm gonna do my best. For the record, I'm gonna be featuring the mods I had in my playthrough in this as well and chalk them up to the creativity of the survivors of the island. If you have the game, be sure to check them out!**

**Catch you guys in the next chapter!**


	2. Entry 2

Entry 2- How to tame your… whatever it is.

It had been around 1 month since Gideon had first awakened in this strange world.

He stood atop one of the makeshift buildings he'd constructed from thatch and wood, looking out over his ramshackle settlement. The building he precariously stood on top of held the bed he'd constructed from the hides of those fat birds wandering the coast, as well as some from a mid-sized creature that looked like a walrus meant for land rather than water. It wasn't easy with these piddly tools of his, but with a patchwork spear made from flint, wood, fiber, and a little bit of hide for a comfortable grip, he managed to take it down and harvest it for both meat and hide.

The second building was a small storage building with boxes labeled based on their contents. He found out that any storage devices he built in this place had similar properties to his implant, and stored things by breaking it down into data and storing it within. He could access it through his implant, which he found incredibly convenient. These were stacked lengthwise to allow for more space, and there were around twelve in total, with three stacks of four.

The next building over held a little pet project of his. He was in the process of building a forge, with several large stones he'd shaped for the project. The current progress on this was slow, as he needed a few more things to actually put the structure together. From what he could gather, he'd need approximately 150 stones, 80 strips of hide, 50 bundles of fiber, 35 planks of wood, and 5 pieces of flint to top it off. The stones couldn't just be thrown together, either. They had to be meticulously shaped and placed in a specific manner in order to work properly. That would take a significant amount of time based on his current level when it came to making things. He kept the materials for this in a box beside it, next to a small pick he'd made for shaping the rock as well as a long strip of hide that he'd made for polishing the rocks.

The last building contained a cooking pot as well as a mortar and pestle, and was essentially his cooking area for if he wanted anything other than some cooked meat to eat. The mortar and pestle was one of his more interesting innovations. He had used 70 stones and 15 pieces of hide to make a thin sheet beneath it to craft this thing. One week ago he had started experimenting with this thing to find new concoctions. One of said items was a blob of medicinal paste that he stored in a small wooden cup. It was a type of narcotic made from spoiled meat and the weird black berries he'd found in the bushes. He found that it was a very effective agent when it came to healing injuries, as spreading it on open wounds killed bacteria and caused a healing effect on the wound. However, the toxins would seep into his skin, and cause him to feel incredibly drowsy. He'd use it in a pinch, if he didn't have any other options. One of the other things that he'd found that he could make was a sort of powder that sparked at the slightest provocation. It was made when he decided to test what would happen if he put two pieces of flint and a single stone into the bowl and crushed it up. If he could find a few other components to add to this, he might be able to make gunpowder. But that was for another time, when he might actually need it.

Around the beginning of the month when he'd first got here, he managed to make himself a cheap set of hide clothing from the creatures he killed. There had been a pig-like creature that he'd found once he started crafting his tools that gave him a significant amount of hide, which helped him here. He'd also found that hatchets stripped hide from bodies better than picks, a handy bit of knowledge that he used constantly while hunting. On the matter of hunting, he'd made a few new tools for the job. One of said tools was a bow that he'd made a while ago, made with tightly bound fiber as bowstring and a body of polished wood with a hide handle for a comfort grip. Using arrows made from fiber, thatch, and pieces of flint, he could now add a ranged weapon to his arsenal. He also found out how to make bolas, which were a bit more challenging to make. It took a lot of fiber to shape the ropes that were binding the stones together, and tearing hide into strips to strengthen it wasn't easy either. Regardless, it worked well enough, it was usable to a degree, and allowed him to capture certain creatures so he could go in for the kill.

He briefly looked out over his meager crop system, with very little in ways of actual harvest. It only had about three different types of berries that it could grow, which were the black berries, the white berries, and the purple berries. He had planned to make an irrigation system at some point, but he'd need to figure out how to hollow out the stones properly.

Regardless, he hopped down from his perch, stretching as he went to greet the new day.

His first order of business was to check the buildings he'd made for structural damage, and replacing pieces as needed. He did this three times a day. Once after waking up, once when the sun was highest in the sky, and once before going to sleep. Next, he checked all of his equipment, tightening the binding and maintaining the edges. Maintaining his equipment was a must if he wanted to survive in this harsh world. The tightening of a spearhead can mean the difference between life or death in a battle between anything hostile. His last order of business in the day was to do inventory of his storage structure. Just like with checking for structural damage, he did this several times a day. Once in the morning, once before he went to bed.

He tapped on his implant twice as he entered his storage building, then tapped on the boxes. A large screen appeared in his field of vision. He also pulled out a small notebook he'd made from fibers, a little bit of thatch, and hide for the cover. He'd use a partially burned stick for writing, since charcoal formed a somewhat effective writing implement. Every day since he'd set his storage system up he'd written down the bits and pieces he had stored in these boxes.

"Morning of day 32. 238 wood. 49 stones. 890 fiber. 590 thatch. 124 raw metal. 40 white pearls. 12 chitin. 434 hide. 42 charcoal. 67 flint. 5 sparking powder. 30 red berries. 40 blueberries. 22 yellow berries. 80 black berries. 78 white berries. 72 purple berries. 98 raw meat. 45 spoiled meat. 76 cooked meat. 21 narcotic." After checking what he had for resources, he moved on to his equipment. "Three stone picks. Four stone hatchets. Seventeen bolas. Five spears. Two slingshots. Two bows. 124 stone arrows. Three wooden clubs. Two full sets of hide clothing. Three sets of cloth clothing." He looked back over the things he'd written down, checking to see if he had forgotten anything. "That's all, I think." He placed his notebook on top of the storage boxes, the makeshift pencil closed inside.

Before, keeping up with all of this had been somewhat difficult, as remembering to do so much caused more fatigue than he would care to admit. Making this notebook had been in his best interest, and really worked in his favor. It meant he didn't have to waste brain power keeping track of all of his things. It let him focus on anything he needed to actually focus on. For example, the task of today.

He decided that today was the day to finally do something other than his normal routine of survival.

Wandering along the beach had been several different creatures of all different sizes. One of said creatures was a bipedal creature with a large body, long neck and tail, as well as a strange crest on its head. Despite their speed and nearly limitless pool of stamina when being chased by him, Gideon found that they provided a very useful amount of hide and meat. From extensive research on their biology, he managed to find that they had very strong leg muscles, and if somehow tamed, might be able to carry heavy items. Interestingly enough, alongside every creature that he killed, this beast seemed to have a trapezoidal implant in the base of its skull. After careful observation, he found that this was meant to clean up the remaining corpses after each kill by disintegrating the remains. At least, that was his theory. He came up with it when he stripped the beasts of their meat and hide, leaving nothing but the bones.

After observing the way that these things seemed to act, he noticed a few key behavioral traits that were important. First, they were very docile in behavior. Even if someone snatched one of their eggs, they wouldn't attack anyone. In case of danger, the creatures would rear their heads and give a hooting noise that could carry long distances. This would alert all of the same species in the area to the presence of a predator, and they would run for their lives. Not only that, but they would book it as fast as their legs could carry them, which is to say really friggin' fast. Even if he chased them down, there was no guarantee that his stamina would allow him to keep running as long as they could. He'd have to be clever to catch one.

In preparation for this task, he took fourteen arrows from his stash of equipment and set them on the table where he had kept his mortar and pestle. He also took seven servings of narcotics from his storage, placing them alongside the arrows. Given his experience with said medicine, he observed that once rubbed on the skin, it produced a somewhat tranquilizing effect after it seeped into the body. His theory was that if he used this same medicine on his arrows, it might possibly be an efficient way to put something down. Carefully spreading the narcotics evenly along the heads of the arrows, he set them aside one by one, thankful he was wearing gloves so he didn't waste any of it on himself by accident. Once finished, he tapped them against his implant, which turned the items into data and stored them in his inventory.

He retrieves several more things from his storage afterwards, including two spears, a slingshot, twenty stone arrows, five bolas and a wooden club. He also retrieved thirty purple berries from his storage, noting that the creatures he was currently hunting had a particular taste for them. In fact, almost every herbivore he'd seen could have the same said about them, as if they found the taste pleasant. Gideon had tried them a few times, but they were always a little bitter to him, so he didn't eat them very often.

With that, he set out, making his way down the beach.

He saw many creatures ranging from those fat birds that wandered the coast to giant turtles. He even saw an otter at some point, and made a mental note to find out how to get one at a later date. Those suckers were adorable. But for now, he had a task to complete. Especially since his target was directly in front of him, in a group with six others. He ducked into a crouch where the bushes were, drawing his bow and placing an arrow into position. His observations paid off, since he was able to move around without them noticing. As he'd observed in the past, they had one lookout at all times to warn of predators, communicating in whatever language they had to decide this from time to time. The others would graze peacefully, quietly munching on the berries in the bushes in front of them.

As one made its way towards his hiding spot, he pulled some berries from his pocket, placing them beside the actual berries that he had been hiding among. The creature ate them from his palm, evidently none the wiser. As it ate the berries provided, Gideon took careful aim with his bow, drawing back the arrow and waiting. When it stood up again, he let the arrow fly, the point sinking into its neck and delivering the toxins directly to the brain within an instant. It fell to the ground, not even having a chance to cry out.

With that one down, he nocked a normal arrow, taking aim once more at the lookout. With his bow being in his left hand, it made reloading a little easier due to the implant being directly against his weapon. He aimed for the head this time, not wanting to take any chances of alerting the others. When he released, the first arrow harmlessly shot passed the head of the creature, lodging itself in a tree. The second arrow he fired grazed it slightly, nicking the crest on its head. Unlike with the first arrow, this one sent its head rearing in alarm, giving a distress call to the others.

Thinking fast, Gideon pulled a bola from his equipment and swung it around quickly. He managed to snare the legs of one while the others bolted. Not giving this one the chance to break free, he loaded one final arrow into his bow and took aim at point blank range, putting it into the creature's eye. The arrow travelled into the brain, delivering an instantaneous death. He gave a sigh of relief, thankful that all of that was over and done with. With the downed creature groaning slightly as the toxin circulated through the bloodstream, Gideon pulled more berries from his pockets as well as some from the bushes around him. Very carefully, he pulled out the arrow he had shot and put the berries into its mouth, but the bleary eyed creature spat them out within moments.

He thought for another moment, then decided to eat one or two for himself. The creature may have been out of it, but it would be a little more trusting of the food it was given if something else was eating it. Gingerly, it took the next berries he gave it, slowly chewing them. Eventually, it grew to trust the food, as it was no different than what it ate on a daily basis. _I think I'm starting to get the hang of this._ He patted the head of the creature, as if reassuring it that he wasn't a threat.

Within minutes, the toxin wore off, and Gideon crossed his fingers.

While the creature stood, it seemed to look itself over, checking for injuries. One of the advantages of the narcotics was that they slowly healed the wounds that they caused, so that wouldn't be an issue for him. Once certain that it was unharmed, it looked Gideon over with a curious look. It sniffed him, then turned completely docile. With a steady hand, he reached up to pet the creature again, and much to his surprise, it let him. His mission was successful.

"Guess I need to give you a name, huh? Can't exactly go around calling you Creature." He chuckled for a moment, then began thinking. The crest on the head might be something interesting to look into, but he decided on a very simple name for the most part. "I'll call you Preston for the time being. Ready to head out?" It gave a slightly enthusiastic hoot in response, which caused Gideon to smile. "Alright, then. After this, we'll head back to base." Gideon used his hatchet to pull the hide from the downed creature's flesh, using it with remarkable precision. He then used his pick to split the meat apart, pulling it from the bones and storing it in his implant. Preston followed his movements, tailing him to his base, which wasn't very far from here. Across some shallow water, there it was. His meager base that he'd spent this past month curating and crafting.

It was one of the things that he found pride in, watching the sun set over his little establishment. It put a smile on his face to see his hard work in this light, and it showed him just how far he'd come. That being said, he parked Preston by his crops, specifically the purple berries he had set up.

"Alright, Preston. Until I can get some kind of feeding bin for you, keep your feeding in moderation from this." He pulled a purple berry from the crop, tossing it to his new companion, who snapped it out of the air. He could swear that if the creature didn't have a snout, it'd be smiling at him. "Alright. Guess it's time to do inventory again." He entered his storage building, put his equipment away, and grabbed his notebook.

"Evening of day 32. 238 wood. 49 stones. 890 fiber. 590 thatch. 124 raw metal. 40 white pearls. 12 chitin. 489 hide. 42 charcoal. 67 flint. 5 sparking powder. 30 red berries. 40 blueberries. 22 yellow berries. 80 black berries. 78 white berries. 52 purple berries. 120 raw meat. 47 spoiled meat. 76 cooked meat. 14 narcotic." After checking what he had for resources, he moved on to his equipment. "Three stone picks. Four stone hatchets. Sixteen bolas. Five spears. Two slingshots. Two bows. 112 stone arrows. 13 tranq arrows. Three wooden clubs. Two full sets of hide clothing. Three sets of cloth clothing." Gideon tucked his notebook away again, setting it back on the boxes and giving a sigh. He was proud of what he had done today, and as he viewed the setting sun, he felt accomplished in what he had done.

Although, not everything was as it seemed.

In that sense, he could hear something outside his base. Something was moving through the sand. As a sort of alarm system, the sand around his base had been covering a sheet of hide and fiber that he'd formed into a sort of carpet. The sand against the hide made a very distinct sound, and alerted him to the presence of something there. This wasn't some average creature, though. The steps were soft and slow. Deliberate. Something -or some_one_\- was sneaking up on him. Within an instant, he grabbed his bow and leaped out the door, loading a tranq arrow into it to put the culprit down before it could escape.

"Hold it!" He aimed it very carefully, but the figure broke into a full sprint and took off down the beach. He took off after them, but they were faster than he was. He soon came to the area where he found the herd Preston was a part of, and the figure disappeared into the flora. He didn't get the chance to follow, because something caught his foot and tripped him. "Oof-!"

His foot throbbing from the impact, he winced for a moment and examined his injury. Thankfully, he didn't appear to have any significant injuries. He had jammed his large toe, but that was the worst of it. The cause of this, however, was far more interesting than the injury on hand… er, foot.

It was a metal box, painted green to blend into the foliage.

"What the hell is this?"

**And that's the end, dear readers! I told you all the amount of mods that I was going to include in the story, and I plan to keep to my word. I'll include 3 or more of the mods that I used during my playthrough in every chapter, so check them out when you get the chance!**

**And with that, I leave you to your own devices, readers! Be sure to recommend this to your friends, and search for **_**Soulbound**_ **to find the others' books to get the full story! (Some may not be uploaded just yet, but keep checking back when you get the chance.)**

_Structures Plus  
Pillars Plus  
Platforms Plus  
__Awesome Spyglass!  
Ammo Switcher_


	3. Update

An update for you all, dealing with both Forged Heroics and Survival Tendency.

So, I realize my schedule with updating is ridiculously erratic, and that's honestly nobody's fault but my own. I want to upload more, but I tend to push out chapters when I don't have any after it that I can safely upload without losing focus or being at a loss for what to do. I have a horrible memory, so it's hard to remember certain plot details.

For_ Forged Heroics_, I'm certain that those of you that are die-hard fans of the series have noticed a few things that are a bit off with the actual story. First off, the timeline is seriously wrong. The trial wasn't supposed to take place as soon as it had, things were revealed that weren't supposed to be early on in the story, and Naofumi wasn't supposed to go through everything on the first day. That being said, though I am fully aware of that oversight, I'm keeping it in for the sake of owning up to my mistakes. I rushed the chapters out before chapter three in my attempt to actually write something good, and I made a few oversights in ways of timeline and actual sequences of events. Hell, I only just recently figured out that it was due to Naofumi's natural abilities that he was immune to alcohol and motion sickness, and that it wasn't due to the Shield.

Another thing I messed up has to do with Naofumi's personality when it comes to having his name cleared. As shown in the spinoff series,_ Reprise of the Spear Hero,_ if Naofumi's name gets cleared from the start, then it causes some problems in various scenarios, including the fact that he doesn't quite grow to hate the world as much as he did before. I hadn't known this existed at the time, so I went down a different path. So, for those of you that are worried about that, allow me to use my reasoning for a moment. In this specific Fanfiction, he'd still grow to hate the Heroes for so blindly believing Bitch to be truthful in that scenario without even giving him the chance to defend himself. He hates Bitch for attempting to frame him (naturally). And he hates that the kingdom tried to persecute him just for being the Shield Hero. Though he trusts one or two more people than he did in the original story, he doesn't really trust anybody else in the kingdom. Especially not the royalty. His hate is still a thing, which will cause the same issues down the line as they did in the original series.

Next, for _Survival Tendency_. Not a lot of people have many problems with this one, surprisingly. Though I will say it deviates from the lore of the actual game a little bit in various ways. One is that with the Ark being faulty, not everyone gets the chance to revive if they die. The MC and his sister are one of the few examples where they'll revive in the Ark no matter what glitches there may be, as well as a few other people for plot purposes, but this Revival feature is one that I needed to address, as I'm sure one or two people were wondering about it. This feature will be rather important down the line, as it leads to a lot of plot details that I planned for in the later installments to _Soulbound._

I apologize if any of this seems like rambling or it doesn't really seem to fit together in any meaningful way, but at this moment I'm running off of little to no sleep during Finals Week and it's hard to string together something concrete in a legitimate conversation or informative writing. I had to address these concerns and questions that I've been receiving in my off time, and the best way I could think of doing so was to just make a document that was explaining everything.

With that being said, I'll see you guys in the next chapters!

-Max


End file.
